Christmas A Go Go!

A genre that rarely appears on CAGG is electronic ambient. A highlight in this genre is the 13th album by English violinist Laura Cannell , titled ' Brightly Shone The Moon' (on Brawl Records) . Laura Cannell, who grew up in rural Norfolk (UK), describes her own music as follows:  “Christmas melodies disappear into densely packed woodland copses where half-remembered carols are played on the fiddle and the merry organ, but none are what they seem.” For example, in ' Angels Falling From The Realms' you can hear fragments of  ' Angels We Have Heard on High' .  Beautiful music for quiet, contemplative moments during the Christmas season.  BRIGHTLY SHONE THE MOON by Laura Cannell

Hailing from Venlo, the Netherlands, Robert and the Keders is a three-piece power pop band revolving around songwriter, guitarist and singer Robert Keder. Their jam is quirky, postmodern pop songs inspired by the Beach Boys and The Beatles, and joy to the world, they've put out two Christmas singles, 'Christmas Socks' and 'My Holiday Wish'. Former blog writer Marco over at WM Digital Services tipped us off on these stocking stuffers. Christmas Socks / My Holiday Wish by Robert and the Keders Christmas Socks / My Holiday Wish by Robert and the Keders Wait, did someone say 'socks' and 'Christmas'? Didn't we have Theme Time post about that?

Y'all know the Christmas classic 'I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus', right? Well, the central song in this post is about that subject too, but in a slightly different way. We're talking about the alt.rock indie Christmas classic 'Santa's Beard' by They Might Be Giants from 1988.  Unlike the Beach Boys' textual somewhat tame 'Santa's Beard' in the previous beard-post , the TMBG 's song deals with the harsh reality of infidelity, lost trust, and disillusionment when you catch your girlfriend in the arms of Santa Claus, who is actually your best friend ... Reason enough for the second Santa's Beard cover time! Ten in a row.  First, the mighty original from They Might Be Giants : The first cover in line is still quite fresh, namely from last year. U.S. Highball from Glasgow, UK recorded a version with casio sounds and synths that perfectly blends with their sharp, pointed guitar sound.  Insta over there . Santa's Beard by U.S.Highba...

This could've been one of the longest posts on the blog; there are A LOT of 2000 Miles versions. Kylie Minogue recorded one ( here ). Mighty Mighy Bosstones ( here ). Coldplay did one. Train did one. A California band called Mustangs of the West that sound exactly as you expect . Futureheads recorded a version on their latest Christmas album ( here ). And Sharon van Etten did a loud dreampop version for the Oh. What. Fun.-soundtrack: That got me thinking: instead of a long list of varied versions, why not keep it reverb-y? Dreampop, shoegaze, fuzz, and tinsel, what a combo. Combined with real emotions, for that is the element that the original from 1983 by Pretenders really makes it such a special song. 2000 Miles is a tribute to Pretenders-guitarist James Honeyman-Scott, who died in 1982 from a drug overdose. 'I miss you', Chrissie Hynde sings, and that's the truth. And that's what makes this version special too. It's a tribute to a deceased fan, and th...

Guestblog! By none other than Santajan, our MC on December 22 in Paradiso . And an avid Christmas music collector, Christmas music singer ( here! ), as well as a writer of several music books. This is the latest , on compilation albums. Jan gets out his sharp tools for this post: "Long live Christmas compilation albums!" The predictable ones by the major record companies are eclipsed by private initiative: I think of the compilations released from time to time by the Excelsior label and, of course, the annual round-ups (preferably on cassette) by CAGGs own DJ Oscar . It was Phoebe Bridgers's beautiful cover of ‘So Much Wine’ that drew my attention to the original version of this tragically surreal song by the American group The Handsome Family. In The Air by The Handsome Family What a fantastic story: a drunk man throws off all his clothes in the snow and whispers through bloody teeth that he can't take it anymore, before passing out and remaining in a com...

"qoq is a band, a brand, and the spirit of a man."  Well, that's quite a way to position yourself. And rightly so, because this spirit of a man (Jarl Q. Sonkin) has made a pretty excellent Christmas track about 'that dastardly crotal hoarding villain in velvet himself, Jingle Bell Christopher'. And besides that, this qoq song is also at the front of the queue for the prize of the best intro of this year's Christmas singles; note the tambourine, the strings and the wonderful, slightly off-key, scratchy guitar. Great track.  Insta over there .  Jingle Bell X†opher by qoq Get ready for some country-esque singalong trucker weirdness from the boys of Da Wizards with Piss Jug Trucker Santa. Open your ears and let the magic envelop you, they say.  And there he is, Ro Halfhide , the Amsterdam based singer-songwriter and regular at the blog with his (almost) annual Christmas track. An eclectic one this time, with very hopeful lyrics and all the Christmassy...

Guestblog! Mr Dan Fejes on the equistrian past of Sunturns: Anyone who likes hunting down new Christmas music - original songs from original artists - has to resign themselves to the ephemeral nature of much of it. Groups or individual artists often pop up and disappear with almost no notice, leaving no electronic trails behind them. Others show up once or twice and never follow it up, all of which can be frustrating when you really love a tune and would like to know more about the creator. For instance, in 2013 the long since departed blog Elves' Bells! wrote this: I can't find any info about Teemu the Finn. I assume he is from Finland. Whoever he is - He has created at least 3 pretty catchy Christmas songs. They all start kind of slowly, but develop nicely. This last one contains the wonderful line, "This Christmas goes up to eleven." I happened to download 2 of the 3 songs - "Everybody Make Some Noise (For Christmas)" and "You Put Christmas ...

Boyracer has been a powerhouse of energetic and scrappy indie alt-rock for over three decades now. Originally formed in Leeds in 1990 by guitar player and vocalist Stewart Anderson, the band carved out their identity in the underground: loud, urgent, heartfelt, and delightfully noisy.  But despite their roots, Boyracer isn't afraid to surprise you: they've embraced the Holiday season with genuine charm. You could say they're Atheists Who Love Christmas (2020).  BOYRACER Harehills Christmas by BOYRACER This year they take us on a festive trip and delight us with two brand new, superb originals and a fairly renovated cover of Lonely This Christmas, the classic track from glam rock legends Mud on the EP ' Melt The Snow '. Same recipe, but Boyracer still tastes like more. They may be rooted in gritty indie, but they sure know how to surprise you! Even at Christmas.  Catchy, spiky and up-tempo while "you didn't know it yet, but these are the things you don...

Santa's Beard refers to two different songs: the most famous is that by The Beach Boys (1964). The other one is by They Might Be Giants (1988). Both tracks are covered many times. In this post we'll focus on the The Beach Boys cover songs first, another post will serve you remarkable covers of the They Might Be Giants song.  And then, there are loads of songs about Santa's Beard in general. That deserves it's own post too and also will be at the blog sometime next week.  == Pulling Santa Claus's beard. Few children (and perhaps adults) haven't had that thought. And that's precisely what this 1964 Christmas classic by The Beach Boys is about. It's about a boy pulling Santa's beard in a department store.  Now first, here's the The Beach Boys original:  Shampoo Drive-Thru released a four track EP last november (Christmas Time in Shampooville), one of them is Santa's Beard. It's poppy synth-rock with a cool and cheerful Christm...

And all of a sudden there was a new Christmas song by Paula Kelley , she of Boy Wonder, she of Drop Nineteens. And of her solo-albums, of course. To be honest, I'd never heard of Paula's first Christmas song, released in 1999 after the demise of Boy Wonder. It was our friend Randy/Hip Christmas who introduced me to this wonderful retro-song, that still sounds as fresh and exciting as it did 25 years ago: Why Christmas? by Paula Kelley and the Misfit Toys In 2022, Paula released a version of Christmas Time is Here Again, in two mixes. I post the dreamy, triphop-ish version: Christmas Time Is Here by Paula Kelley And this year, she released a new seasonal song, that starts with an exquisite Hallelujah-choir, big piano-notes and moody, sad girl lyrics. I love that screeching, edgy noise in the background, that keeps things shoegazing: Cities Light The Streets For You (Holiday Single) by Paula Kelley

'La course folle feat. Valérie Clio' by Québec City's Le Band à Boivin just dropped, raising money for a local charity that helps children succeed at school. Valérie Clio is a Québec soul singer of Haitian origin also from Québec City who jumped on this tumbling toboggan of a song. The song is about running around on December 23 to sort out the Christmas shopping, which is as stressful as you can imagine. There's often too many parties and going to work dead tired in January. New Year Eve's is also a lot of work to host - Québec sometimes has really big extended families over - no wonder some of friends fly off to Mexico for the holidays. Santa also has to work very hard to deliver all his gifts. The band asks you for a minimum donation of $1 (aka 'a buck' in Canadian parlance) to help kids do well at school. We wrote about last year's song , which will also add some French rockin' country flavour to your Christmas party playlist. La cou...

An indestructible song, Teenage Kicks by the Undertone s. And a great moniker for makin' power poppin' songs, no? Peter van Helvoort (there must be some Dutch legacy, but PvH lives in Sydenham, Ontario) was a celebrated guest on this blog earlier ( here , here ), and with a firecracker of a new Christmas song, we celebrate him some more! I guess the song is about being humble, making a short list for Santa, and then ... not getting a lot. Crying Over Christmas - Teenage Kicks (Volume 4) by Songs From Big Blue And do listen to the flip as well: Crying Over Christmas - Teenage Kicks (Volume 4) by Songs From Big Blue

The idea was, let's see what pops up if I search Christmas songs with a year in the title. And see if they also mention that year in the lyrics. If not, that is OK too, but then it has to be a nice song. Here's a selection of what I found: Bit of power pop, with an upbeat outlook: THIS CHRISTMAS TIME 3 by Kinetics It's 1996, it's Christmas and I miss you, so I wrote a beautiful song about it: The Christmas Project by The Lake Poets When you call a song 'Christmas 1977' you'd expect a track with a Ramones-riff and a Johnny Rotten-sneer, yeah? That's wot you get, keep listening for the coda and the mentioning of the year: Dollification by The Hector Collectors More folksy, without mentioning the year, but still a gorgeous song about longing: Geneviève by Red Apple Falls Remember when your mom and dad told you that Santa isn't real? I guess it happened to this fella in 1999. He took his acoustic guitar an wrote a song about it, which is n...

Of course, putting out Christmas songs isn't a competition, but if it was (making a list, it's so Christmas!) this track by King Hüsky should take the crown of Bestest New Christmas Song Of The Year. Yes, it is THAT good. Guest blogger Ton Ensing, aka Mister T55 , agrees: Some guys have all the luck. King Hüsky is one of them. The King used to be Vidar Landa, guitarist of Norwegian heavy metal band Kvelertak and indierock/powerpop band Beachheads . Earlier this year he made a lovely jangle/powerpop record with the help of the great Anne Lise Frøkedal (known from her own band: Frøkedal , and Norwegian powerpoppers I was a King), who had some time left inbetween touring with her own band and being in the studio for a new I was a King -album. Anne Lisa is still the queen on this new King Hüsky tune that recently popped-up on Bandcamp. It’s called December95 , and it’s a track that deserves to be heard. A sweet little melody takes us home, where the christmas lights are fitt...

What we kept from this Bandcamp Friday/major Christmas release day: Of course, the Godzilla vs. Kong of Christmas music, the team up of team ups, Santa vs Claus, The Clash of the Christmas Commonwealth: in the left corner, representing Canada, mr Kristian Noel Pedersen ! SIXTEEN Christmas albums so far, all essential as tinsel. And in the right corner, aka The Sad Bard of Birmingham, it's mr Duncan Baird, the one we call Winterval ! Bullshit & Gift Wrapping by Kristian Noel Pedersen Do listen to the rest of this fabulous, cosy and rockin' album! The only one challenging Kristian as producer of A LOT of Christmas albums is Make Like Monkeys, and yes: he delivered yet another power pop stunner: Make Like Christmas by Make Like Monkeys Indie bedroom pop from Los Angeles, and as wobbly as the guy telling the story in the song, but a solid cracker nonetheless: This Christmas Will Run on Its Own / I Like You, Doug by Country Aldente Turns out we DID need an foul-mo...

'She lost the baby, the house nearly burned down/Baby Jesus is nobody's baby now.' In the tsunami of new Christmas releases today, this song stands out. Small Shake (Aarin Wright) wrote covered the very moving song (by Julia Jacklin ) for the second Hit The North Pole compilation. by Hit the North Records. All proceeds go to the Palestine Children's Relief Fun d. It's Bandcamp Friday today, so don't hesitate. Hit The North Pole (Vol. 2): A Festive Charity Compilation for the Palestine Children's Relief Fund by Hit The North Records Last year, Small Shake surprised us with this fantastic Harvey Danger-cover: Hit The North Pole (Vol. 1): A Festive Charity Compilation for the Palestine Children's Relief Fund by Small Shake, Fur Trader On the new Hit The North Pole compilation, there are more goodies. The opening trio of songs is wonderful. And the covers are fun (Kurupi!).

Today is Bandcamp Friday , which means 100% of sales (minus processing fees) go straight to the artists and labels. Here are a few strong suggestions from 2025, including three of the artists at Christmas a GoGo in Amsterdam this year. Why buy music? So you can own it, play it when and where you want for you, your family and friends. You're also supporting artists who continue to create music despite the state of the world and AI trying to move in on their turf. At the rate at which new Christmas music will be dropping as of today, it's good to find time to listen to some of the wondrous stuff we've been lucky to blog about so far. While you're all doing that, CAGG HQ is getting ready for Sinterklaas tomorrow (roughly, Dutch Christmas), which involves presents, poems and a ton of sweets. Yes, there are Sinterklaas songs, but sadly they're children's songs, the kind that get piped into the supermarket speakers and make you shop faster. Now you know why we...

The Netherlands has a reputation to uphold when it comes to quality Christmas songs. And now we can add at least one future classic to the Dutch canon of Christmas songs, placing it right at the top while we're at it, because oh la la, what a delightful Christmas cracker this is! It's called 'In Hemelsnaam' (for Christ's sake) and it's a Dutch duet by Roos Rebergen and Lars Kroon . Starting with the latter, he played in Go Back to the Zoo and St. Tropez, among others, then founded Lars and the Magic Mountain, and then returned to Toverberg . And now, back to basics, he is once again a skilled songwriter under his own name , with rock solid singer-songwriter material that he spices up with bits of folk, Americana and country until it's perfectly seasoned.  And then there's Roos Rebergen. She was only 15 when she founded her band Roosbeef in 2003, creating a musical universe entirely her own. Lyrically, she has also been at the top of the list of the be...

A great original by Charlie Brown from Rossendale, UK (who actually calls himself Charlie Boy on SoundCloud), but anyway he recorded this sugar sweet Christmas tune in association with the kids at Tor View School in Rossendale. At a nice slow pace, Charlie talks, sings and wonders for a good five minutes where Santa is. And just wait for that touching chorus at the end. Where's Santa? Oh wait, there he is! Where's Santa? by Charlie Brown Phil Cook is certainly not the biggest fan of Christmas, to put it mildly. In fact, he doesn't want Christmas at all. Give Me A Break is Phil Cook & the Fall Dogs ' anti-holiday anthem "for everyone who’s had it up to here with forced cheer, plastic tinsel, and the annual orgy of consumerism" . But there is a solution for everything; I think we should contact Phil for our annual Christmas party in Paradiso, Amsterdam to let him heal. Sharp x-mas rock with organ and free sixties vibe.  This artist seeingf...

With the release of their remarkable 6 track Christmas EP, UK-based Martyrs have immediately introduced a great new Christmas genre: sno-fi. A hashtag that perfectly fits their somewhat dark and atmospheric DIY indie sound, making it ideal for this season. Moreover, all the tracks on the EP have 'snow' in their title, and "they're all absolutely drenched in seasonal melancholia and a fair number of sleigh bells." We couldn't ask for more, #snofi.  All proceeds from sales go to Cancer Research UK.  The sno-fi EP is available for just £5 at their Bandcamp .  Martyrs Insta over there .  The snow fell. Let it wash over you. sno-fi ep by Martyrs More up-tempo, this track features the addictive spoken word flow and synths that take you into increasingly boisterous and noisy territories. sno-fi ep by Martyrs

Dandy Boy Records is active since 2016 (the first song appearing on Bandcamp), releases most post punk, new wave and power pop, and since 2018 they put out Christmas songs. That we've never featured on this blog. Which is sad, really. I mean, listen to this wavey, bouncey track from the 1981: Christmas in the Tenderloin by the 1981 That should've been on this blog in 2018, no? In 2021 there was a first compilation, well reviewed by Jim/Christmas Underground , and with this really really fantastic track that sounds a bit like Smashing Pumpkins' 1979: Have Yourself A Dandy X-Mas by FLTY BRGR GRL And now there's a new compilation, with new wave, folksy lullabies & power pop tunes, like this rumblin' beauty: A Dandy Christmas by Autos And this Fountains of Wayne-ish stampyerfeet'r: A Dandy Christmas '25 by The Goods Proceeds of the new compilation go to Toys for Tots .

The Coral is a great British rock band, they've been around for 30 year s and released twelve albums. But no Christmas song. Until now. A single (the vinyl's sold out , dammit) with a spoken word track, a seasonal, slightly uplifting story told by the father of one of the band members. And a piercing (hello organ!) stomping flipside called 'She Died on Christmas Day'. Haunting. Not quite the festive mood there either, but hey, that's how we like it! The Coral · She Died On Christmas Day

National Lampoon is an American national treasure, a comedy magazine, radioshow and theatre comedy show. In Europe, we got to know National Lampoon thanks to the movie spin-offs, with comedians Chevy Chase and John Belushi. The most prolific (in the 70s and 80s) were Animal House and the Vacation-series, see the movie list here . A long introduction to the song Holiday Road, written and performed by Fleetwood Mac-member Lindsey Buckingham, in 1983. Holiday Road was his fist attempt to a soundtrack, the song was used first in National Lampoon's European Vacation, and later in other ... Vacation-films. But NOT in the Christmas edition (so to speak). Somehow, the track became a Christmas Holiday classic. Though Christmas isn't mentioned in the lyrics, and Christmas isn't a factor in the first movie. The song is a pop version of a rockabilly tune, with it's galloping rhythm and easy singalong choir. At first, it became a staple among acapella-groups, as you can see in...